Why I Oughta...

Back in May of 2019, I planted a number of very small, one-gallon Canadian Hemlock trees .  A few of them were destroyed by rabbits.  And a few died from drought.  But, two of them have managed to make it to today.  In terms of growing seasons, that: 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and now...in the middle of their sixth growing season:  2024.   After the rabbits ate these things up, I began to protect them with chicken wire.  The past few seasons, I've just left the chicken wire rings in place.  And the trees have just kept-on-growing.   I heard from someone on the blog about the hemlocks and they wondered how they were doing.   Here's a couple of photos that show them - although...they're *hard to see*.   The first photo shows both of the trees - one on the left and the other on the right - split by that narrow tree trunk in the middle.  The second photo shows a close-up of the chicken wire ring. I'd say that these trees are five-feet-tall and growing.  They're not pu

Conifers should come first.  That's advice that I've (now) adopted.  But, I'm seven-years down the gardening path and it is too late.  But...looking around, I *did* get it right - somewhat.  I planted some tiny Canadian Hemlocks, some creeping Junipers and a tiny Mugo Pine in the 'understory bed' over the years.   Below are a few photos that show how they're doing.  First, is a Youngstown Juniper amongst some hostas and a look at the bottom of one of the Hemlocks.  The juniper was planted in Fall 2019. These Hemlocks started out as 12" tall trees.  Now they're six-feet tall and growing.  Pretty great to see: Below is another creeping Juniper - that's smaller than the first.   And here, below, is the Mugo Pine.  Planted as a tiny one-gallon evergreen shrub in the Fall of 2021 .  It was ravaged by the dang rabbits, but has since rebounded - thanks to some wintertime chicken wire.  This is its third growing season in the garden and is now about 12&quo

Back in 2019, I planted six tiny Candian Hemlock trees in a couple of spots of our yard.  When I say 'tiny', I mean 'tiny'.  These were less than a foot tall at the time.  Here's the first three - that went into the far back corner of our yard.  And here's the second three that went into the north side border - in the shade.  That (the shade part) is the point of these.  They are evergreens that *work* in shade.   Over time, we lost half of these.  The (dang) rabbits destroyed them during the winter .  I didn't notice until the following Spring, so after that, I've decided to protect them with chicken wire .   We have three remaining.  Two along the north border.  One in the far back.   It has been a while since I clock'd these into the garden diary/tree diary, so I thought I'd document their current state.  Are they big?  No.  But, the two on the north side are doing well.  These are the two that didn't get gnawed at by rabbits.   Here, be

Yesterday, I walked through an exploration of an area in one of my beds that calls for a mix of Tardiva Hydrangea and (now) an upright evergreen layer .  That requires the moving/transplanting of four Lilac shrubs that have never taken off due to shade.  My #1 backyard priority for 2022 is a focus on shrubs and being deliberate about buying and planting them - versus say...perennial flowers.  I've talked about buying and adding a series of Arrowwood Viburnum shrubs in various spots, but there's a segment of our landscape plan that is directly adjacent to yesterday's Lilac replacement area that calls for a mix of hydrangeas and evergreens.   Here's a look (below)  at this 18-20' area that is bound on one side by the Kwanzan Flowering Cherry tree and on the other by a large (2nd largest on our property) Northern Red Oak tree.  You can see the tree here in this post showing some winter/snow damage .  That Oak is on the right.  In Yellow is a run of various hostas. 

We have a trio of Gold Cone Junipers that I planted a few seasons ago in our backyard bed.  I put them in the ground in Spring 2019 and three growing seasons later, they're turning into something very different that I was thinking:  they're turning into a lollipop-like conifer.  These Gold Cone Junipers are notorious for splaying when snow piles on them, so that first season, I wired them up to help prevent that winter damage .  By that first Fall, they were showing some signs of stress .  Then, after their first Winter, they browned out ...but came back in Summer. These also are more sun-loving than most things in our yard, so having them planted in the shade of a Walnut tree isn't ideal.  Not to mention....I planted these without consulting the plan, so they're sort-of orphaned here.  I don't necessarily WANT them here - nor does the plan call for them - but why rip them out now when I don't have anything else to plant there.  So, over the past few growing se

In March of this year, I posted some photos of a few different things in our yard that had suffered what I believe was rabbit damage .  These trees and shrubs emerged from Winter with parts of the limbs clipped right off by what I think was a hungry rabbit (or rabbits) that were looking for some food when snow had covered everything.  Why do I think it was rabbits?  Well, first of all, because we have plenty of rabbits.  And second, this post from Mom.com : During the winter months, rabbits survive by foraging for food under the snow. Because vegetation is less plentiful during the winter, rabbits may increase their intake of tree bark and conifer needles. This year, I decided to take a proactive stance against these rabbits (no offense, guys.  I'll try to supplement what you eat this Winter) by erecting a barrier that would make it difficult for them to get to the trees.   Back in May of 2019, I first planted three Canadian Hemlocks in the far back of the yard .  And a week or so

Yesterday, I showed off some new growth on our Yews in the rear yard and today, I'm happy to show one of our tiny Canadian Hemlocks showing some new light-green growth.  This is back in the 'rabbit damage' area that I posted about in March of this year .  You can see one of the Ostrich Ferns on the right side of this photo and - in terms of documenting this location - this is the furthest right (north) of the three that I initially planted. This one was the least damaged by rabbits, but I now need to get round to protecting it with some chickenwire/poultry wire to keep the critters from munching on it. The other ones have a little bit of growth, but not like this one.  I'll post some photos of the other set later this Summer. 

This past weekend, I wandered in the back part of our yard and was stunned to see the bare trunks of our tiny Canadian Hemlock trees.  They have been totally ravaged by what I presume to be rabbits.  Freaking rabbits.  Last year, I planted six small (like 18" tall) Canadian Hemlocks in two spots of the yard.  We lost one of them before Winter , but the other five appeared fine before Winter. Today, the three in the very back are the ones I'm posting about and two of them have been totally attacked.  One of them you can see above with just the trunk remaining along with few lower branches.   This is the first real set of animal or critter damage that I've see on the trees in our yard. It is interesting...I've noticed that almost every morning when I take Lizzie out, we have a pair of rabbits that are hanging in our yard.  Up until now, I thought that was nice to see the wildlife.  I mean...we're feeding the birds and squirrels, so I assume that the rabbits a

Another week and (sadly) another tree is lost in our yard.  Just last week, I shared the news of one of our Earth Day 2018 trees - a Weeping Flowering Cherry Tree - died this season .  Today, you can see in the photo above, that we've lost one of our small Canadian Hemlock trees that I planted on the North side of our property out back. This is the seventh tree I've lost since planting and the second of this season. The other six trees that have died are: Other "Lost" trees include: a Chanticleer Pear, a Dawn Redwood, a Corkscrew Willow, a Fraser Fir, a Canadian Hemlock, Weeping Flowering Cherry. And now *this* Hemlock.  This means it is the second Canadian Hemlock that I've planted that has died.   The dead (or mostly dead) Hemlock in the photo above is the one on the far right of the photo in this post.   The other five of them seem to be doing well with all of them showing both a little stress and some new growth. Here's the full list of tr

Back at the beginning of May, I posted a photo that showed three of the six Canadian Hemlock tiny trees that I bought with a credit from an online nursery .  These things are tiny.   The official name is Tsuga canadensis . Sometimes they're called Canadian Hemlocks. Sometimes Eastern Hemlocks. Maybe 16" tall.  I mentioned in the post that I put the first three in the far back reaches of our yard and that I was planning on putting the other three on the northside. These aren't the first Hemlocks that I've planted, unfortunately.  I bought a tiny one just like these at Menards on a whim and put it in the ground last Summer.  By September, it was gone .  Done.  Not sure what happened to it, but I also lost our little Fraser Fir at the same time .  Guessing it was neglect via limited water? The three trees that are in this post (circled in green in the photo above) are the same trees that are specified in the landscape plan portion that I posted about in June of

I had a credit an an online tree nursery from a tree that we tried that died that was about to expire, so I went hunting on their site to find something useful and interesting for our yard.  To date, we've planted 26 trees ( full list here ) and have 21 of those trees that are still with us. If you read my post about my 2019 to-do list , you might remember that #8 was to 'do something with conifers'.  I started my 'conifer journey' this Spring by adding three Gold Cone Junipers to the backyard .  But those aren't technically trees as they're classified as shrubs . Taking those couple of dynamics (having a credit and wanting to do something with conifers), I decided to take a peek at our landscape plan and decided to pick out six VERY SMALL Canadian Hemlocks.  You can see the size of them in the photo at the top.  With the pot, these are about three feet tall. This post is about just three of them, though.  I'll post again when I get the other th

That's our very small Canadian Hemlock up above in happier times:  right after planting.  But, alas, the tree is gone.  Lost it this Summer due to drying out.  Just like our Fraser Fir .  I don't have a photo of the carcass of the Hemlock unfortunately.  I took it back to Menards and didn't take the care to photograph the deceased. This makes five tree's we've lost.  Two of them pure conifers, one deciduous conifer. 1.  Chanticleer Pear 3" caliper tree .  Which we might lose again . 2.  The Corkscrew Willow I planted for Nat all the way in the back .  Might be a good thing knowing they're ratty trees. 3.  The Fraser Fir .  And our dreams of grow-our-own Christmas Trees. 4.  The Dawn Redwood that we replaced . 5.  This small Canadian Hemlock. 26 up, five down.  Two of them replaced.  Net of 23 trees alive and well in our reforestation.  In two seasons.  Only one of which is a conifer ( Weeping Cedar ) and two of which are deciduous conifers (rep

This is the fourth in the series of different snapshots of our emerging landscape plan for our #newoldbackyard.  The other three are here and are worth visiting to get a sense for the overall plan.   Here's a look at part of the southern fence line .  Includes a set of hydrangeas, some hostas and ferns, allium and some Canadian Hemlocks.  I got a little bit of a headstart on this section last Fall when I planted some hydrangeas that we were given by Nat's Mom.   Here's a look at part of the rear foundation planting areas.  This one is right outside our breakfast nook/kitchen .  It includes some grasses, boxwoods, a rhododendron and some hostas.  This is right where our bird feeders are located, so the grasses are perfect.  Also, I harvested some hostas/ferns from our neighbor's house down the street late last season and got those started in their spots.  Hoping they'll come back this Spring.  Unfortunately, I also planted our Disneyland Rose there, so